


you don't need to go

by nightowl_310



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Episode Fix-it, Episode: s08e04 The Last of the Starks, F/M, Fluff, my ship will sail
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-03-07 01:36:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18863083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightowl_310/pseuds/nightowl_310
Summary: Set after Jaime leaves Brienne. She discovers something he should know and goes after him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic so be kind :) Enjoy!

Brienne felt as though she couldn’t breath, like all the air in her lungs had left her. She couldn’t recall a time in her life where she had sobbed this uncontrollably, not even when her mother had died.  
She heard a faint noise come from behind her and she fiercely wiped the tears from her face as she turned around. To her surprise, she was met with Bran and Sansa Stark.  
“Wha-“  
Brienne couldn’t even begin to ask what they were doing in the courtyard so late at night before Bran spoke.  
“Go after him.”  
Brienne just looked at him with her mouth open in confusion. She looked to up to Sansa who was looking back at her with a tired but determined face.  
“If he makes his way to Kings Landing, he will not come back alive.”  
Fear struck her in that moment. Deep down she knew he probably wouldn’t return but she didn’t want to accept it.  
“I’ve already tried to convince him to stay. What am I to tell him to get him to return?” Brienne said, exacerbated. If she was not enough reason for him to stay, she truly didn’t know what it would take.  
“Tell him… there is no child,” Bran stated calmly.  
Brienne was confused only for a moment. The pieces were falling into place in her mind.  
“Do you truly think that will work?”  
“I’ve seen that he cares for you. You are the only one who can save him from himself.”  
Brienne gave a brief glance to Sansa who nodded at her before she rushed to her quarters and pull on her clothes. When she returned to the courtyard, Sansa had readied a horse for her. She gave a quick goodbye to the pair of them and then she was off.  
————  
Jaime rode slow through the darkness and thanked the gods when dawn broke over the trees. He pushed his horse faster and willed himself not to think about who he’d left behind.  
_I betrayed her. She hates me. I’m most likely going to die and Brienne hates me. ___  
He tries not to think about the past few weeks he had spent with her at Winterfell. He tries not to remember how it felt to touch her and lay with her. He tries and fails because there’s not much else to do on the long journey other than ponder the past and future.  
He realizes he had gotten lost in thought, letting his horse do the work, when he hears hoofbeats behind him. He knows it’s her.  
Jaime curses under his breath. He said all those hateful things he didn’t mean so that she could forget him, not so that she would chase after him.  
He slows his steed and doesn’t bother turning around.  
Sure enough, Brienne rides up alongside him and moves her horse in front of his, bringing him to a halt.  
For a moment, they just look at each other. They both look exhausted. Jaime sees how Brienne’s eyes soften when they look at his face. He’s broken and he knows it and he doesn’t want her to see him like this. And yet she’s the only one he wants to see him like this. Jaime doesn’t really know what to make of these contradicting feelings, but he doesn’t have the chance because Brienne starts to speak.  
“Come back to Winterfell with me.”  
She pauses to take stock of his expression. He keeps his face blank.  
“I told you, I’m going home. Why did you come after me?”  
“I came because…” _I love you, you idiot _“I have something to tell you, something important.”__  
“Well spit it out, wench, I would like to make the most of the daylight I have.” He knows it’s harsh, but he needs her to return to Winterfell. He needs her to be safe and keep her oath to the Starks.  
She pauses another moment before she says, “There is no child.”  
Jaime’s face flickers between confusion, hurt, and disbelief. He doesn’t say anything because he can’t find the words.  
“I know she told you there was. I know you believe her. I think she believes it too.”  
He finally gets the resolve to speak, “How…? Why..?”  
“Bran saw it. As for why, I can’t tell you. Maybe for the exact reason you’re riding back to her.”  
Jaime swallows thickly. He knows Cersi has lied in the past. He knows she is manipulative. He knows he shouldn’t be riding south right now to be with her.  
“Jaime…”  
He looks up at her. Her gaze it begging him to say something, anything to reassure her that he understands what this means.  
He simply turns his horse around and starts back from where he came. He soon realizes that Brienne isn’t following him and he calls out, “Come on, woman! Like I said, I want to make the most of the daylight.”  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i kinda wanted to get this up before the finale but obvi that didn't happen :/ i know it's pretty short, but i wanted to post what i had and give myself some time to think through some of my ideas for the rest. Anyway, thank you to everyone that has left kudos and comments! i appreciate the love! i hope y'all like this update :)

_“Come on, woman! Like I said, I want to make the most of the daylight.” ___  
Brienne was confused by the look that had settled on his face before he retreated. He looked as confused as he was relieved.  
She pushed her horse to catch up with him. She very much wanted to shove him off his steed and barely restrained from doing so.  
They rode silently for about an hour. It’s more than she can take. She needs to ask him what’s going on in that moronic head of his. If only she could find the words.  
Jaime surprises her by speaking in a voice she could barely hear.  
“I’m sorry.”  
Again, Brienne searches for the right words to say. She comes to realize that she doesn’t want to have this conversation on horseback. Luckily there’s a clearing up ahead. She pushes forward and directs her horse off the road. He doesn’t look too surprised that she wants to stop.  
Brienne busies herself fiddling with the tack on her horse. She doesn’t have any experience with anything like this. Actually, thinking about it, she didn’t think anyone has experience with something like this. Finally, she resigns herself to the situation.  
“I really don’t know what to say to you.”  
“I don’t really know what to say, either.” He gives a light, hollow chuckle, trying to bring the mood up.  
Stealing himself, Jaime starts to speak, “I truly am sorry,” he pauses to chance a glance at her. His look is met with silence and a face that tells him to keep going. He decides to speak from his heart, something he has no experience with. _What the hell do I have to lose?… Brienne… so everything ___  
“When I heard what had happened with the dragon queen, I knew this wasn’t going to end well… I knew that anyway, I suppose, but I guess that raven finally got it through my stubborn skull that we’re at war.  
“My thoughts immediately went to the babe. It was to be born into bloodshed and battle, but I wanted it to at least have the chance to be born.”  
Jaime brings his gaze up to meet Brienne’s. Her eyes, beautiful sapphires, hold so much emotion in them, he can barely decipher it. She looks sorrowful and hurt, but she quietly gestures for him to keep going.  
“I knew when I left Kings Landing that there was no going back to... her,” he paused, thinking.  
“Tyrion told me a while ago that I always knew what she was and loved her anyway, but I don’t think that’s true. I think that I chose to see the best parts of her and tried my damnedest to ignore the rest. Our relationship was so ingrained in me that I was scared of what I’d be without it.”  
Brienne found the courage to quietly ask, “What changed? You said you knew there was no going back so... what changed?”  
“I suppose I did.. but it’s all your fault,” he replied with a smirk on his stupid face.  
Brienne didn’t know whether to kiss him or slap him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so... one more part? maybe two?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know.. i'm sorry.. i never said when i would be posting but i definitely left this for too long. anyway i had some annoying writers block and family stuff so... but here it is.
> 
> i hope y'all like it

_Brienne didn’t know whether to kiss him or slap him. ___

__She settles on shoving him in the shoulder. The force of her blow makes him stumble a bit. She can’t help the upturn of her lips as he struggles for balance.  
When Jaime regains his footing, he faces her again with a small smile on his lips and starts to speak again.  
“When I first arrived in the North, I was terrified. Not of the dragon queen, not of the army of dead men. I was terrified that I’d disappointed you.  
I had a lot of time to think on my ride North. And the more I thought about seeing you again, the more nervous I got. I knew I had to come and join the fight against the dead. I just kept thinking about how you told me to “fuck loyalty” as you so elegantly put it.” He pauses with a small smile on his face as he remembers the moment.  
“I knew you were right. I was so angry when Cersi told me of her plans to betray Daenerys. She was being cruel and selfish while I was thinking about the kingdom and all of the lives at stake. I was hoping against all hope that she hadn’t been consumed by the monster everyone sees her as.” 

Brienne stayed silent as he continued to speak. She watched him with great interest and appreciated his expressive face.  
Although Jaime often seemed like he loved the sound of his own voice, talking and talking on and on, he had never spoken of anything with such thought and meaning behind it. She felt privileged to be able to see this part of him. She doubted many had had the opportunity. 

“And when you stood up in front of everyone and vouched for me...,” he was shocked to find himself tearing up at the thought of her actions, “I didn’t think I was worthy of your trust and loyalty. To be honest, I still don’t know how I earned it.” 

Brienne found herself angry at his admission. He really didn’t see himself how she did.  
“You idiot!”  
Jaime looked appropriately taken aback at her outburst. She often berated him, but he honestly wasn’t expecting her to get upset while he was pouring his heart out to her. 

“You honestly don’t see that you are a good man! You deserve every opinion I have of you. You have defended me against awful men, a bear, and dead things. You gave me a priceless sword and beautiful armor to fulfill our oath to Lady Stark. You have done so much for me and countless others.” 

Jaime stepped closer towards her, glad she didn’t retreat.  
“Why must this all be so complicated?” He asks as he brings his hand up to cup her cheek. They’re flushed from the cold, but he likes to think there’s a little extra color there from him touching her.  
Brienne was surprised he was this close. She knew the things he had said when he left were meant to hurt her and push her away. She wasn’t stupid. He wanted her to see him for what he thinks he is. 

The weeks they’d spent together had started to make her believe that he might actually love her. She had spent all of her free time with him and since she and Tyrion were the only ones who’d converse with him at Winterfell, he spent a lot of time in her room, staying warm.  
They spoke of their childhoods and how they’d been mostly awful, his stone-cold father and her having to sit through "lady lessons". He told her about his mother and she told him of her brother and they commiserated about having so few memories of them. 

Then, of course, that damn raven had to come and cock things up. Making him doubt himself and worry about a babe that didn’t exist. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hoping for one or two more chapters. let me know what ya think.


End file.
